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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26306464">Viridis Soothe This Burning Heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovemberNights/pseuds/NovemberNights'>NovemberNights</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Blood, Burns, Curses, Curses and Cures, Dragon Keith (Voltron), Dragons, F/M, Injury, Kidgezine, Kidgezine: Kaledioscope, Knight Keith (Voltron), Knight Shiro (Voltron), Mage Pidge | Katie Holt, Magic, Marquess Pidge | Katie Holt, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:02:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,512</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26306464</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovemberNights/pseuds/NovemberNights</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>A lone, sunlit figure stands serene in shadowed underbrush.</em>
  <br/>
  <em>Brilliant golden eyes surrounded by a cascade of green.</em>
  <br/>
  <em>A bloodied knife in one hand, a heart in the other, held aloft like scales.</em>
</p><p>When a knight is found on the seeming verge of death in the forests skirting her territory, Katie is surprised when the stranger wakes and recognizes her, claiming only she can cure him of the flaming curse raging within his body.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith &amp; Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Pidge (Voltron), Keith/Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge | Katie Holt &amp; Shiro</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Kaleidoscope: A Fantasy Kidge Zine 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Viridis Soothe This Burning Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm very excited for this fic to be out! Written for Kidgezine 2.0: Kaleidoscope, which is available as a <em>free</em> PDF due to COVID here: https://kidgezine.tumblr.com/post/628338186505060352/kidgezine-after-a-rough-year-it-is-complete</p><p>Definitely take a look at the zine, everyone's hard work turned out FANTASTIC and I'm over the moon with how incredible the visuals are for my fic. *Chef's Kiss* They are PERFECT.</p><p>Also, if you like this, maybe keep an eye out in the future for an extended version. I've got over 3k of notes for this fic and I'd love to write it out in full as a multichap if I have time. I had to trim a lot of stuff back when the zine was going to be for print and didn't have enough time to add to it once we decided to go digital-only.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There’s a body in the forest.</p><p>Hidden in the undergrowth and cold, dense fog, it’s hard to spot unless one is nearly upon it.</p><p>Crouching in the torchlight, Shiro scans the figure with wary eyes. </p><p>The man’s armor is dark and foreign, though heavily damaged. Shiro can’t place the origin, and the strange shape of the blade slung in the man’s sword belt doesn’t help matters much. A hooded cowl covers some of his head, his inky black hair spilling out in messy tendrils. But the strangest thing is the mask. Dark like the armor covering the body from head to toe, a mouth of predatory teeth is molded into the surface of the metal-like material, and the upper portion bears a pair of eerie purple markings resembling eyes, sending chills down Shiro’s spine as he pauses with his torch held over the stranger’s head.</p><p>It’s unlike anything he’s ever seen.</p><p>Closer inspection of the body reveals severe burns, many of which appear to have split open, or suffered burns on top of existing ones, the skin puckered and shiny like a grotesque leather. And the smell is horrendous, like a punch in the throat that makes him want to retch.</p><p>Shiro wouldn’t be surprised if the man <em>is</em> dead.</p><p>But the subtle rise and fall of his chest says otherwise.</p><p>The crack of underbrush draws Shiro’s attention from the stranger as he rises to meet two of his soldiers. They carry the stretcher he’d sent them to retrieve from camp after their patrol stumbled across the body in the forest and reported it to him.</p><p>The news had filled him with unease; a body in the forest along the border is nothing short of concerning. Now, as he holds his torch aloft for the soldiers to transfer the man onto the stretcher, Shiro wonders if his plan to bring him to the Marquess is for better or for worse.</p><p>If he survives the trip.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><p>Keith wakes to the sight of a pair of golden-amber eyes hovering over him, framed by a young woman’s face, her long brown hair falling down around her in waves. Her lips are twisted in a thoughtful look, brows knit as her eyes scan him analytically. Then her hand reaches past his head, and for a moment, his vision is flooded with the green of her sleeve.</p><p>Green.</p><p>Green. Green. Green. It nags at his mind, something he should remember.</p><p>Green and <em>gold.</em></p><p>Jolting upright, Keith stares at the young woman in realization as he struggles to find his voice. A pair of guards place themselves between him and the woman, but he ignores them as he points at her and wills the words from his throat.</p><p>“You,” he rasps, his tongue dry, the sound muffled slightly by his mask. He watches concern spread across the woman’s features as the guards tense before her, and she seems so familiar, yet so unknown.</p><p>“I dreamt of you,” he adds, “I need your help.”</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <em>A lone, sunlit figure stands serene in shadowed underbrush.</em>
  </p>
</div>The woman presses a hand against the arm of one of the guards, setting them at ease, “You… dreamt of me?” she asks, confusion seeping into her tone.<div class="center">
  <p>
    <em>Brilliant golden eyes surrounded by a cascade of green.</em>
  </p>
</div>Keith nods, “I was gifted the fates-dream by a sage, and it gave me a vision of the person I most needed. Be it to my end or my destiny, it led me to you.”<div class="center">
  <p>
    <em>A bloodied knife in one hand, a heart in the other, held aloft like scales.</em>
  </p>
</div>“Why me?” she asks, chin tilted up as she eyes him with skepticism.<p>“I bear a curse the likes of which I believe only you have the power to cure.”</p><p>The woman opens her mouth to speak, but a knock at the door draws her attention and she turns away, “Who is there?”</p><p>“Shiro, Marquess Arus. A message has arrived for you.”</p><p>The woman—Marquess Arus—moves toward the door and pulls it open, allowing inside a tall knight, his hair strikingly two-toned with a shock of white set against the black. </p><p>“From whom?” Marquess Arus asks, taking the wax-sealed envelope from Shiro cautiously.</p><p>“General Iverson. Sent from the capital.”</p><p>Marquess Arus purses her lips, running a finger over the stamped wax, “That does appear to be the case,” she pauses. “Very well. I shall have to attend to this promptly. Shiro, I am entrusting you with the stranger. He claims to be in need of my… expertise. Is that right?” she hums, golden eyes flashing towards Keith, who nods solemnly.</p><p>Keith catches the odd look that Shiro sends him, and wonders at it while the Marquess leaves with the other guards as an escort. When the door closes behind them, Keith turns his head to the knight.</p><p>“What do you know?” he asks, a hand moving to his sword belt. His fingers grasp at air. Hiding his surprise, Keith stares expectantly at Shiro.</p><p>“You won’t find your blade. It’s been stored away for the time being,” Shiro says matter-of-factly. </p><p>Keith scoffs, picking up his foot and resting it across his other knee. The knight’s scrutinizing gaze watches his every movement.</p><p>“Regardless, I ought to return your question. What do <em>you</em> know, stranger?”</p><p>Keith barks out a short laugh, “What do <em>I</em> know? Sir, I hardly know where I <em>am.</em> Your Marquess Arus appears to be the very same woman that appeared to me in a dream gifted by a sage, and though I have sought her out, I find it highly suspect that I awake to the sight of her in the same room as I. How do I know that what I see is the truth? You could both be apparitions to my ill-fated delirium and I would be none the wiser. What say you to that?”</p><p>“Considering that you wear a mask that seems impossible to remove, and that I found you near-death in the middle of the forest along the border, we have reason to be suspicious of you as well, stranger. You very well could be an Imperial spy,” Shiro counters.</p><p>Keith rockets to his feet, “I’ll have you know I have no regard for Imperial <em>scum</em> and would rather let this rotten curse take me whole than ever abide by those Galran dastards,” he growls.</p><p>Shiro seems to be taken aback somewhat by his outburst, but the surprise on his face is quickly overcome with worry as Keith feels his legs weaken beneath him and stumbles to catch himself. The knight places a firm hand on Keith’s shoulder and eases him back into a sitting position on the bed he’d awoken on.</p><p>“You oughtn’t overexert yourself. As I said, when I found you in the forest you looked for all the world like a dead man. It was as if you had been doused in fire several times over. I thought to bring you back with our scouting party, and Marquess Arus was able to heal your wounds. But your face remains hidden and you are still no more than a stranger to us. If you’re willing to explain yourself more, we can certainly be more accommodating.”</p><p>Keith huffs irritably, but drops his shoulders in acquiescence, “You make a fair point. I will tell you what you need of me, but the mask stays on.”</p><p>Shiro settles on the chair across from him, “Why might that be?”</p><p>“Without all this,” he says, gesturing to the dark armor covering much of his body, “I leak an all-consuming flame. It is a curse, eating at me from the inside out as we speak.”</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><p>“Rumors of increasing detail from Dalterion to Olkarion,” Katie muses, staring at the parchment in her hands. “It seems I am quite famous,” she frowns, pressing the document to the surface of her desk with a firm palm, “Shiro, these are certainly not new developments, you know this.”</p><p>“Well, yes, but nonetheless, it is relevant. He claimed to have been given a dream of a woman in a forest by a sage, and set out to find her based on that alone. The rumors he encountered may not be new but ultimately they brought him to you, that you cannot deny,” Shiro notes.</p><p>“And do you believe it? This fates-dream business?” Katie sinks into her chair and peers closely at Shiro’s report of his conversation with the stranger, “Mage I may be, but I find myself somewhat skeptical. I know nothing of any sages much farther than Olkarion, much less past Dalterion.”</p><p>“I do not find it… implausible. And if you truly are the only one who can aid him, I see no reason not to. He did speak briefly of his people, if only to distance himself from the Empire… Nomads, it seems. Perhaps they simply keep a low profile.”</p><p>“Perhaps,” Katie hums, shuffling the papers on her desk around. She draws one from the pile and unfolds it, smoothing out the creases gently, “I will need to pay a visit to our guest, it seems. I’d like for you to alert me when he’s fully recovered. That aside,” she pauses, handing the letter to the knight, “What are your thoughts on this?”</p><p>“General Iverson’s letter?” he asks, taking it carefully.</p><p>Katie nods, “It’s not an ideal time.”</p><p>Shiro frowns as he skims the letter’s contents, “No... no, it is not. We don’t have much choice though.”</p><p>Dipping a pen into her inkwell, Katie lays out a fresh sheet of parchment and pens a few lines, “I will have arrangements made for your departure, so you needn’t worry about that. Iverson wants you and nearly half of my forces within a fortnight. We are fortunate that the Northmarch border is stable for the moment, else I might be forced to refuse the General. But if word gets out that we are so disadvantaged…” Katie frowns and sets down her pen, “I hope my fears are unwarranted.”</p><p>The knight pauses as he stands and pushes his chair in, “Nevertheless, it may be wise to reinforce your personal guard. I could draw up a list of suitable candidates if you would like.”</p><p>“Better to make as few changes as possible, I should think. But I shall keep that in mind.”</p><p>Shiro nods, “Is there anything else you require of me?”</p><p>The Marquess purses her lips in thought, “Not at the moment, no. I’ll send for you should something come up. You may be dismissed.”</p><p>“Yes, milady,” Shiro says, bowing on his way out.</p><p>Katie watches him go, waiting until the solid oak doors clatter shut to rise from her chair. She taps a finger on her desk while turning to her bookshelves, and runs a hand along the spines of leather-bound spell books. </p><p>A wry smile pulls at her lips, “Curses and Galran magic... This will be interesting.”</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><p>“Come in,” calls a voice. The stranger’s voice, it sounds like. <em>Keith,</em> she reminds herself. That’s what he had introduced himself as to Shiro.</p><p>Katie pauses, her hand a mere inch away from the door, poised to knock. She sets her shoulders back and shifts to turn the knob instead, opening the door. Stepping into the small guest chamber, she notes that it smells considerably less of burnt flesh. She shuts the door behind her, nodding in greeting to the attendant in the corner. She looks to the figure on the bed, his legs drawn up with his head resting on his knees, looking out the window. He turns his head toward her.</p><p>“I heard you coming,” he says, as if anticipating the question on her tongue. The mask on his face is just as unsettling now as it had been when she first saw it, with its eerie purple markings staring blankly ahead. Katie turns her gaze away and moves to retrieve the chair from the corner.</p><p>“I am told you are well again,” she says, sitting down in front of him.</p><p>Keith swings his legs over the side of the bed, “In some ways more than others.”</p><p>“Shiro informed me of what you relayed to him of your… predicament. Armed with that and what I saw of your wounds while treating them, I did a bit of research, and I believe I have found a solution,” she pauses to take a book from where she held it under her arm and opens it to a page marked with a purple ribbon. “It’s written in a dialect of the Imperial tongue I am unfamiliar with, but I understand most of it,” she muses, running a finger along the lines of text to find her place. “Ah, here. ‘Fireblight is a draconian curse derived from the spell books of the eastern clan Galra, renowned for an unusually strong magic ability among its members. This is an especially effective curse amongst the race’s other clans, as it takes advantage of their draconic lineage. Once inflicted upon someone, Fireblight consumes its victim from within, tearing them apart slowly until it inevitably envelopes its victim in flame.’ Sounds familiar, no?”</p><p>Keith had grown increasingly attentive throughout her oration, Katie notes as she closes the old spell book. She pats the leather cover and crosses her arms atop it.</p><p>“I can cure you. However, it will be a long process. Extended curses call for extended cures, and, seeing that you are very much a stranger still, I have one condition: you must agree to be bound by an oath of service to me for the duration of the cure. Do you accept?”</p><p>For a moment, Keith does not move, and Katie wonders at his thoughts, at his face, hidden behind the mask. Then he takes his right hand in his left and tugs off his glove, holding out his exposed hand as it bursts into flame.</p><p>“How could I not?”</p><p>Katie smiles somberly and summons her magic to her hands, cupping them around Keith’s outstretched one to snuff out the flame. “I’ll need time to gather the required materials. Expect to be summoned to my study in a few days’ time. For now,” she pauses, picking up the discarded glove and holding it open for him, “do your best not to burn.”</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><p>Keith adjusts the buckles on his gauntlets, idling behind Marquess Arus. By her side, the faint hum in his head from the spell combating his curse is near silent—a reprieve he is thankful for amidst the noise of the Marquess’s evening party. She had called it “a mere formality,” designed to keep the landowners in good spirits despite the Northmarch’s precarious border situation.</p><p>He is wholly out of place in such an environment, but… the Marquess seems not to mind his unease—she shares it. A gentle tap on the back of his hand gets his attention, and he follows her through the throng of guests, focused on her movements rather than the multitude of eyes following <em>him,</em> the mysterious armored stranger taking the place of the Marquess’s personal guard.</p><p>To those that asked, the Marquess would reply that Shiro had appointed him, which was true, in a sense. Telling the guests he had bested Shiro in combat and been made his replacement while he was away would be unwise.</p><p>When he agreed to serve the Marquess as recompense for her help, he had never expected to be trusted with such a crucial position, yet that is precisely what had occurred. The spell, of course, had much to do with that—her magic loses its potency if he strays from her, and the green runic markings that appear on his skin when she’s near serve as a reminder.</p><p>And so, he remains dutifully glued to her side, ever the watchful eye.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><p>Smoothing out the folds in her skirt, Katie rises from her crouched position with a smile as she watches a child run back to his siblings with the sweets she had just given him. The children’s parents are among the crowd of villagers clustered around her map table as one of her officers explains their new fortifications. She turns back toward the table, set outside her tent to accommodate the villagers, but movement toward the rear catches her eye, and she stops.</p><p>She can see Keith skirting the edge of the group, though he keeps his distance. She’s noticed her knight has grown more accustomed to crowds in the months since he arrived, though he is still quite reticent, and seems acutely aware that at times his unfamiliar appearance causes unease. As he draws near, Katie steps away from the congregation to speak with him, watching while he turns his head toward the children briefly before stopping in front of her.</p><p>“Milady, the northwest palisade is complete,” he says, one hand on the hilt of his sword as he dips his head in a pithy bow.</p><p>Despite the favorable news, Katie finds herself frowning at the veiled fatigue in Keith’s voice. Some hours prior he had approached her in much the same manner, returning from the village outskirts with a bloodied sword. Standing in the firelight outside her tent, she saw the small flames poking through his sleeves where he’d taken blows. She had glanced at the patrol sent with him and noted that more than a few of them had their eyes fixated on the flaming masked knight, reflecting back his image in the night. As for Keith, Katie had the sense that if she could see his eyes, they burned with a different sort of fire, one of danger and determination, and something else she couldn’t quite place.</p><p>One of the soldiers on the patrol that night would later tell her how Keith had almost single-handedly dispatched the marauders they encountered, darting between opponents in a frenzied assault like some beast of war. Information that fell on half-listening ears, for she already knows. Since his arrival at her fortress, Keith has proven himself to be a more than capable fighter, a skill set Katie is exceptionally pleased with.</p><p>Now, standing before him in the morning light, she contemplates her new knight’s volatile nature. His presence carries a threatening air with him, though never toward her. In combat his blade strikes true, always seeking blood. There is a certain danger to his movements, as if he were addicted to the fray. Her knight could be a genuine terror, seething with a barely restrained power like a tempest.</p><p>“I am glad to hear it,” Katie twists her lips into a concerned smile, “but Keith, please, get some rest.” Regardless, her knight is still human.</p><p>Or… so she thought.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><p>The day the Galran Imperial army marches across the Northmarch border is perhaps one of the strangest in Katie’s life. Rushing up the turret stairs with Keith in tow, she bursts out onto the wall walk, where they can see the army in the distance. The timing is awful, with half of her forces called away to the western front. She hadn’t expected this. </p><p>Nor did she expect what Keith does next, asking her to release the spells on him once more and order him to battle. And she does. Of course she does; she trusts her knight. Looking into his eyes full of fire and something she never could identify, mask long gone after shattering under the impact of an assassin’s attack meant for her, she can do nothing <em>but</em> trust him.</p><p>Keith bows, "Thank you. Keep close watch of the field, milady," he says, turning away. Katie watches him walk around toward the courtyard side and then returns her worried gaze to the approaching army.</p><p>And she watches the silhouette of a dragon rise from the shadow of the fortress and take wing with a mighty roar, powerful and wondrously terrifying. In a rush of air, she glimpses a mass of red and black flash overhead, and soon the field is burning.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><p>Katie’s eyes dart from her fortress in the distance, then to the scorched grass around her, and finally down to Keith’s face, his head resting on her knees. She wipes the tears from her eyes, placing a gentle hand on either side of his face. Her loyal knight for so many months.</p><p>“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she whispers. Stab him through the heart, he had told her. The last part of the cure, the part she could not translate. But Keith knew. His tired gaze flicks up to meet her eyes, and he offers her a weak smile.</p><p>“I knew you wouldn’t like it,” he says quietly, fingers drifting to the jagged hole in his cuirass over his heart, where she’d sunk the blade he’d given her. Miraculously, only a scar marks his chest, the curse lifted from within. The torrent of fire that had burst forth from the wound is seared into her mind, but brighter still is the confession that accompanied the blade when he pressed its hilt into her hands. Katie strokes her thumb along his cheek, wiping away one of her fallen tears.</p><p>“You foolish dragon,” she smiles, leaning down to kiss him, “I love you too.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Kidgezine link one more time: https://kidgezine.tumblr.com/post/628338186505060352/kidgezine-after-a-rough-year-it-is-complete</p><p>Feel free to talk to me/ask questions! There's a lot of lore behind this AU and it's fun to talk about :) <em>and I desperately want to write it in full so you all can get ALL THE FEELS hrhrhghghg</em></p><p>So I have a "playlist" so to speak of some songs that either inspired this fic loosely or just kindof fit the "vibe" of it in my head, even if it's just a few verses or something :P<br/>Lord Huron - Cursed<br/>Lord Huron - Frozen Pines<br/>Mikky Ekko - Who Are You, Really?<br/>Young the Giant - Darkest Shade of Blue<br/>Guster - Satellite<br/>TENDER - Machine<br/>TENDER - Outside<br/>Saint Motel - Save Me<br/>CLANN - I Hold You<br/>Bob Moses -  Keeping Me Alive<br/>Seal - Kiss From a Rose<br/>Shawn James - Curse of the Fold<br/>The Paper Kites - Bloom</p></blockquote></div></div>
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